Scott Bloomquist scored the Lucas Oil win in Tazewell
The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series made its annual trek to the high-banked Tazewell Speedway and was greeted by the largest crowd in the history of the upper east Tennessee track. And those fans were treated to a thrilling race that saw some of Dirt Late Model racing’s biggest stars do battle before Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tenn. emerged with the $10,000 victory.
Jimmy Owens began the night by setting the fastest overall time in qualifying when he turned a lap around the third-mile facility in 11.380 seconds. Chad Ogle, Jared Landers, Bloomquist and Don O’Neal rounded out the top-5 in time-trial results.
Bloomquist, O’Neal and Jonathan Davenport won the three heat races used to set the starting lineup for the main event.
Bloomquist took advantage of starting from the pole position and went to the early lead when the 50-lap feature race went green. Davenport, O’Neal, Owens and Mack McCarter gave chase to the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame member in the early going as they fought for positions within the top-5.
Donald McIntosh began to move forward quickly as the Georgia native passed Tim McCreadie for sixth on the second lap of the race then took the fifth spot away from McCarter one lap later. Owens also proved to be an early mover as he swept by O’Neal to grab third on lap 5 while McCreadie, Darrell Lanigan, McCarter and Dennis Erb, Jr. waged quite a war for the sixth spot during the race’s initial circuits.
Dennis Erb, Jr.(28) and Darrell Langian(15) and Mack McCarter(51) fought for position early in the race
The first caution flag of the feature waved on lap 10 when the fourth running machine of O’Neal suffered a flat tire. On the ensuing restart, Owens was able to get by Davenport for second leaving the defending LOLMDS champion to battle with Erb for the third position.
A second caution came out on the twelfth circuit when several cars jammed up in turn one. Former series champion Earl Pearson, Jr. and McCreadie received the brunt of the damage as both had body pieces bent out of shape as a result of the accident.
While Bloomquist was able to keep himself spaced away from the pack during the first half of the race distance, the action behind him was fierce as Owens and Davenport fought for second while Lanigan, Erb and others waged war just behind the lead trio.
The race’s second half saw top contenders experience trouble. First, the fourth running Lanigan pulled into the pit area with what a first appeared to be a flat tire. However, the Clint Bowyer owned car never returned to action after that.
Jimmy Owens(20) and Scott Bloomquist do battle on Tazewell’s high banks
Meanwhile, Bloomquist continued to lead except for a brief moment when Owens slipped by on lap 38 only to give the top spot up almost as quickly as he gained it.
With just three laps remaining, another top contender faltered when the second running Davenport brushed the wall and had to pit to replace a tire on his ride. From that point, Bloomquist drove on to the checkered flag.
Feature Finish: 1. Scott Bloomquist, 2. Jimmy Owens, 3, Steve Francis, 4. Dennis Erb, Jr., 5. Don O’Neal, 6. Jared Landers, 7. Chad Ogle, 8. Billy Ogle, Jr., 9. Brandon Sheppard, 10. Donald McIntosh, 11. Tim McCreadie, 12. Dakotah Knuckles, 13. Tommy Bailey, 14. Earl Pearson, Jr., 15. Jonathan Davenport, 16. Mack McCarter, 17. Jeff Wolfenbarger, 18. Colton Flinner, 19. Darrell Lanigan, 20. Chris Barton, 21. Jordon Horton, 22. Steve Smith, 23. Brian Smith, 24. Mitchell Burke
Bloomquist in Victory Lane
